A Man for All (Sports) Seasons

Just a little post of pics and videos I'd saved of Max with some swimming and our newest effort - basketball. 

He's made such great strides in swimming. If you'd have seen him in early 2014 vs now, you'd note that he's lost a lot of fear and gained a lot of enjoyment. I'm guessing by next summer, we will have a real little swimmer on our hands! 

Here are some videos from his last day of lessons. He's the one in the goggles and Darth Vadar suit.

I really like this next video because Max would NEVER lay back on his head before. He's gotten so much braver! So proud of him! 

Max also started playing basketball for the first time! And yes, 5-6 year old basketball is everything you'd hope. It's pretty funny, but hey, we all have to learn somewhere. Most of us aren't born LeBron. I'm really proud of him for trying a team sport, for trying really hard to learn the rules, and for not getting grumpy in practice or in the games when he doesn't get playing time or something. I've been assured that most kids basketball pretty much looks like this until 2nd or 3rd grade. Ha! Just glad the kiddo is trying stuff out. 

Practice shots.

Dribbling in practice.

Looks like a baller, right? Ha!

Some action shots from the first game. By the end, he was pretty solid on knowing the difference between offense and defense. A little better at playing on the defensive end. And don't worry - we have a 529 in case Bill Self somehow forgets to give the kid a scholarship. Ha! 

A little video. It's really too funny, but like I said, we all start somewhere. :-) Also, he does have his hands up on D. Just saying. :-) 

Homecoming and Hawk Day school presentation

Last weekend, we attended the KU Homecoming parade. While Max enjoys the parades, the noise still bothers him a bit. But it was a fun thing to do on a fall night.

This video is just my own indulgence in putting the fight song on the blog. But then Max sees cheerleaders. And he likes those. Discovering that there were boy cheerleaders made him happy. He thinks he's found a way in. Hahahah. 

A frat boy gave Max his party hat. So Max wore it proudly.
Everyone told him happy birthday, so we just went with it. 

Remember when he used to be scared of Big Jay. 

Today, Oct. 2, was also Max's Hawk Day at Hillcrest. In lieu of show and tell, each kiddo gets a day to talk about themselves and their interests. They are supposed to bring things to put into a display case, and then they give a little talk about it.

Paul went up to have lunch with him, and I met them in the hallway for the presentation. I wish I'd thought to videotape it all. I only got a piece. But this kid killed it! Holy cow. We didn't practice or anything, but he was MONEY. Like, he's going to be on stage or Bill Rancic kinda money. Paul and I were both tickled and proud to see him so excited and so comfortable talking to his class.

One item had to be handmade. Of course, he picked a train that we'd all worked on. He told the crowd about bogey wheels,
driving wheels, pistons, the different perspectives of the dinosaur he drew to drive the train. Crazy.

Here's part of his talk covering the dinosaur book, pressed pennies, a little drawing, and Mixels. The cooler for the water fountain kicked on at the end, so I stopped recording. But it's a pretty good bit.

Discussing a snow globe from Chicago and naming all of the buildings.

 You should've seen the Q&A. He was calling on people, giving thoughtful answers. Seriously crazy. So proud of our little Hawk.

Deserving of its own post: Max Borchardt - superstar!

While Max was in the shower last night, we heard all of this. A Christmas song. Of his own creation.

And then, before he put on jammies, we had this rendition.

Lordy, lordy.